Cardboard one string guitar

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on April 23, 2010 at 6:42pm

Cool and creative! Nice job.

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Permalink Reply by NoxTerran on April 23, 2010 at 8:40pm

nice, keep us informed on the neck warping and what not, and if you have any ideas on how to strengthen it. crow does 3 string slide guitars out of cardboard but with a wood neck, it'd be pretty cool if this works for you

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on April 24, 2010 at 1:08am

Great experiment! How does it sound?

Back in design school we made chairs out of corrugated cardboard. They had to support 200 lbs. We had the biggest guy in class sit on to test them (mine passed!). Anyway, what I learned from that project is for corrugated cardboard, the strength is in the length. A square or rectangular tube form is also very strong.

Assuming the corrugations are running the length of the neck, you've probably built a nice strong neck. I don't know if adding any more longitudinal braces inside the neck would be helpful or not. As it is, it may support 200 lbs. The limiting factor will probably be the tuner tearing out. Adding some reinforcement in that area should be helpful.

The other limiting factor would be the string tension pushing downward on the bridge. A vertical brace under the bridge should be helpful there.

With tension for a classical nylon string guitar at 75-90 pounds and a steel string acoustic at 150-200 pounds you could probably add more strings with no problem (assuming the tuners and the tailpiece don't tear out).

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Permalink Reply by Brendan deVallance on April 24, 2010 at 11:10am

I reinforced the tuner mount with some tin can lid, but after I was done I wished I had done a better job. As always you learn a lot by making your first one.I did get the action right i think, so it doesnt buzz, and the sound is nice and bright with good volume.

Skeesix said:

Great experiment! How does it sound?
Back in design school . . .

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on April 25, 2010 at 12:28pm

Very nice and ultra creative. I like the looks of this a lot. I would guess with enough internal support, you could build a neck strong enough to receive 3 strings. A lower tuning would offer less tension. Now that would be fun. Please keep me posted if you ever try it. I would love to play one. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy

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Permalink Reply by Keni Lee Burgess on April 25, 2010 at 12:35pm

Another thought. You know those popsicle stick or matchstick bridge competitions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2ZyqNODJpU

Seems to me, it is just a matter of the right design to solve the neck strength problem.

Enjoy, Keni Lee

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Call on April 25, 2010 at 3:24pm

Very cool!

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on April 25, 2010 at 5:36pm

Damn, and I just threw out a perfectly good wine box! I think Kenny is right, a 3 string neck could be made, just a bit of trial and error. Skeesix, the class before me made cardboard furniture too,I was also a design student.

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Permalink Reply by Brendan deVallance on April 25, 2010 at 6:08pm

Ok, I see this as a challenge now. I must make a functional 3 string all cardboard guitar, or die trying. —B

MichaelS said:

Damn, and I just threw out a perfectly good wine box! I think Kenny is right, a 3 string neck could be made, just a bit of trial and error. Skeesix, the class before me made cardboard furniture too,I was also a design student.

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